Hoplite shield coloring designs
The shield was both a defensive and offensive weapon. Thus, the shield was perhaps the most indispensable tool the Viking carried. Not all Vikings had access to armor, and even the best armor of the era would not stand up to many direct hits. Polished bronze, for the record, has a golden mirror-like quality that's quite striking.The battlefields of the Viking Age were terrifying places where a warrior faced hails of arrows and multiple attackers armed with all manner of deadly weapons.
Some pieces might have been heirlooms passed down over generations, in fact.
Oh, as a side note, buy the time of the age of the hoplite the actual weapons would usually be made of iron, and probably some or all of the armor as well, but with a bronze finish.
HOPLITE SHIELD COLORING DESIGNS SKIN
In fact, if you want to be clever, you might paint a few of the bronze "muscle" cuirasses in pseudo-natural skin tones I could see that as being a thing for some warriors to go into battle with full protection, but looking semi-naked for intimidation purposes. No reason a bunch of citizen soldiers wouldn't march off to battle dressed in their Sunday-go-to-killing best!
HOPLITE SHIELD COLORING DESIGNS FREE
Feel free to make them brightly-colored, though: historically, the ancient Greeks were fond of bright colors - they actually used to paint their statues and carvings, and traces of the paint have been found on them. Blue and especially purple would have been reserved for the richer sorts. undyed cloth), green, yellow, and combinations of these - the sorts of dyes that could be made from readily available materials (for instance yellow dye was made from onion skins!). Hoplites were citizen-soldiers, not a regular army, and each would have customized their gear to their own tastes and style.Īll of the design on the shields look to be taken from ancient greek vase paintings, which is probably reasonably historically accurate.įor clothing colors, try to emphasize earth tones, which include reds, browns, off-white (a.k.a. Vase paintings have lots of depictions of the shields, and Isuspect you can get 1:72 transfers of shield images.įor hoplites from an individual city, I suspect it would be appropriate to have a common iconography on the shields - Athenians might have images sacred to Athena like the owl, for instance - though that doesn't have to be universal. Shields, similarly, might have had a solid bronze facing (actually a thin layer of bronze - the underlying shield would have been wood and leather) or been painted bright colors with various mythological details, though occasionally I like to imagine hoplites going into battle with obscene slogans written on their shields to taunt and intimidate the enemy. Linothorax is traditionally depicted as white ("traditionally" meaning in miniatures) but it could have been dyed on painted any number of colors and decorated to suit the wealth and tastes of the owner. Unpolished bronze that has yet to develop verdigris will actually be brownish a useful and characterful way to distinguish rich and middle class hoplites is how bright and shiny their gear is.įor clothing and armor, the Spartans would have been fairly unique with their red cloaks most hoplites would have gone into battle wearing whatever they preferred (though probably not naked, despite vase depictions). New and well-tended-to bronze won't be green, but it will turn over time if neglected.